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Get a Head Start: 5 Things to Do This Summer to Prepare for University

Congratulations, recent grads!

You’ve passed a HUGE milestone in your life, and now you’re ready to take the next big step: onto your university campus! You may be excited, nervous, or a bit of both, and that’s totally normal. Here are four easy ways you can get a head start and prepare for your first week as a university student.

Go exploring: take a walk around campus to visit your classrooms

Finding classrooms can be tough on a big university campus, and waiting till the first day of classes to find them will be overwhelming. Most schools release the timetables with room assignments well ahead of time – go exploring, Future You will thank you!

Stake out the student societies and clubs

The best way to meet people is over shared interests. Get ahead of the game by staking out the clubs and societies that you’re interested in, and go to their orientation events! Most student organizations have orientation events for new students to get a taste of what they’re about, and even if you don’t end up joining the society, you might end up meeting some new friends.

Buy your textbooks (or find them online)

If you thought the lunch line at your high school was bad, wait until you see the line at your university bookstore during the first week of classes! Save yourself time and stress by buying your books ahead of time, and save yourself money buy ordering used editions or finding free PDFs of older versions online.

Sync your school email to your phone

With most of our communication these days being on social media, email can seem long-winded and outdated. But until professors start using Snapchat for class communications, you’re going to want to have your school emails pushed to your phone. Sync up your account before school starts so you don’t miss any orientation week info, residence updates, or last minute classroom changes before your first week!

Do a social media refresh and (re)invent yourself

You’re starting out at a new school, in a new community with hundreds or thousands of new people around you. This is your chance to reinvent yourself! Now’s the time to purge your old social media accounts of those embarrassing photos and cringe-worthy tweets you made years ago. Take some new profile pictures, update your handles, and follow your school accounts on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook so you can stay up-to-date with everything going on on campus. Bonus: look for novelty accounts associated with your school, like Overheard At <Your University>, or Humans of <Your School>.